Pages

19 Apr 2010

An autumn stroll

It's been a while since I've invited you for a stroll through our garden.

Summers in Central Victoria are just so punishing that I find it hard to be inspired by anything garden related. Come autumn though...

Anyhow, if you care to join me under the ancient pear in the courtyard we'll make a start. Sorry about the hose - just kick it out of the way a little, if you like. You'll see that the foliage of miniature daffodils is already up here. They show their jolly yellow faces so soon after the cool weather starts around here.

Ready? Okay we'll head off down the Wisteria Walk, shall we? Don't forget to pick any flowers that catch your eye while you're peregrinating. We'll make an arrangement of them when we finish.

The first path to the right takes you into the White Garden. This, like everything at this time of year, is looking a little wild and unkempt, but the standard Iceberg roses continue to put on a good show long after their backdrop of Climbing Lamarque has finished. It is so easy to see why this has become such a popular rose in Australian gardens.

This is my favourite bed in the White Garden. It is filled with lilium longiflorum around Christmas time. Beautiful. This late in the season the daisies predominate, but there are also white salvias, petunias and other bits and pieces still in bloom. Heideschnee is still flowering away valiantly as well. The shrub is lemon verbena. We use it for making delicious lemony tisanes. Mmm. In a few weeks the ornamental pear, Chanticleer will put on her magnificent autumn display and will be the undisputed star of this bed. She's still green now though, as you can see.

Back into the Wisteria Walk and through the other side you'll enter the English Garden. The Mme Isaac Pereire roses that give this bed its height are not yet very tall, and so the whole thing looks a bit flat. I shall try some larger shrubs in this bed next season to do the same thing. Hopefully the roses will grow more next year. They still flower beautifully though!

I'm going to grow roses up the fence - that's why the trellis is there. The tree is a native Kurrajong and beside it three little buddleias to attract the butterflies.

The salvia is glorious at this time of year and is offset by an unnamed pink rose if you look this way. There are lots of different salvias throughout our garden but this purple one performs the best.

If you wander the path in the English Garden you'll come back to the end of the Wisteria Walk. Avert your eyes from the ugly empty patch behind the hammock where until a few weeks ago the century old peppercorn stood. How our neighbours could have chopped this down is beyond me. We've yet to decide what we plant in this large sunny and now empty section of our Native Garden. Head instead along the path where you'll find our little garden gnome hard at work at her nature study.

You'll find grevillias, callistemon, kangaroo paws, hakea, banksia, hardenbergia and other native flowers under established gum and wattle trees in our water conserving Native Garden. The musk parrots adore it, as do our resident possums! There are a few paths to explore in this area of the garden, so have a bit of a wander around and we'll congregate over at the firepit, okay?

Okay. Onward!

Back up the other side of the While Garden you'll see this beautiful unnamed red rose before you enter the Children's Garden.

We've been doing some work on Jemimah's Cubby which you'll see in this section of the garden, but we'll leave our examination of that for another visit. Right now we'll head past the Kitchen Garden and on out the front.

It's looking green out here. Green and peaceful I think.

There's more to see if you head on around the front of the house but why don't we head on inside and put those flowers in a bit of water?

Or we could have lemonade out in you absolutely splendid garden!Wow! When do you get the time? It is absolutley gorgeous. I have mentioned before that I have no garden....I shall go to sleep dreaming about that Wonderland now.

Delightful! What a beautiful wonderland you are creating for Jemimah (& you & hubby too of course) to enjoy. I love the feel of the different 'rooms'. Magical. I'm guessing you get lots of native birds? Love the front of your house too - just gorgeous!

Thanks. Coffees always good. ☺ Could we have it under the pear tree? Your garden is so lovely. For posts like this we need a 3D effect so I can sniff everything as well. All those roses & nary a wiff my way! Tragic. The garden gnome is priceless.

ok I'm jealous again that's twice in one week now!We have bare paddocks or what I am choosing to call a 'blank canvas'! I long for the day our garden grows.You are very fortunate. You have obviously worked hard and are reaping the benefits. It's beautiful Jeanne

Beautiful Jeanne. Always enjoy a sticky beak at someone else's garden. Being that bit further south than you, our garden is further into her Autumn decline. But the Autumn colours are pretty amazing too. Out on our street there is a crimson leafed oak amongst the yellows and browns - it is stunning!

What a beautiful garden you have and what a beautiful time of the year. I have been enjoying gardening as the weather has been so wonderful (I am slightly above and to the east by a few hours!) - it will be some time before I see my daffie foliage.

And the smell of Wisteria - heaven - my weeping wisteria has a long way to go before it fills my garden with scent.

Happy gardening - it brings so much joy to all, including the gardener!

Jeanne,This is amazing! What wonderful nature study you have right before you. I love reading your list of all the plants....you sound like quite the expert. Thank you so much for sharing the beauty of where you are. :)

Jeanne, your garden is absolutely spectacular. I love lemon-y plants and grow lemon balm. And the wisteria! It's blooming like mad around here and is one of my favorites, too. What a wonderful season (pollen notwithstanding, which actually does not bother me -- I guess I'm lucky in that!).

Jeanne, thank you for the peaceful garden tour! Your gardens are gorgeous! I have always thought I'd be diligent (or organized) enough to have my garden broken into sections, but I find I'm too random and eclectic. I also like weeds too much! LOL. Your gardens look as though they are professionally kept up, and I mean that as a compliment! Makes me want to go right outside and work on mine! And I would love to have coffee with you. We could talk about books and gardens and Charlotte Mason and, I'm sure, lots of other things!

For you

Newberys

•93 Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures•88 The Graveyard Book•83 The Tale of Despereaux•78 Holes•76 The View from Saturday•73 The Giver•69 Number the Stars•65 Sarah, Plain and Tall•63 Dear Mr Henshaw•60 Jacob Have I Loved•57 Bridge to Terabithia•56 Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry•51 Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH•50 Summer of the Swans•47 From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler•42 A Wrinkle in Time•41 The Bronze Bow•38 The Witch of Blackbird Pond•37 Rifles for Watie•36 Miracles on Maple Hill•35 Carry On, Mr. Bowditch•34 The Wheel on the School•31 Ginger Pye•30 Amos Fortune, Free Man•29 The Door in the Wall•28 King of the Wind•27 The Twenty-One Balloons•25 Strawberry Girl•26 Miss Hickory•25 Strawberry Girl•24 Rabbit Hill•23 Johnny Tremain•18 Thimble Summer•15 Caddie Woodlawn•9 Hitty, Her First Hundred Years•8 The Trumpeter of Krakow•2 The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle

Blog Archive

Welcome

We're an Australian homeschooling family. We're passionate about the educator Charlotte Mason, the Ambleside Online curriculum, MEP maths, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia, Japanese aesthetics, French language, Asian travel, children's literature, our garden, and living a peaceful life in the country.

Please leave us a comment if you visit - and especially if you enjoy a particular post - it means a lot to us to know you've enjoyed visiting us!